This invention relates to a rice washing apparatus which is used for washing rice prior to boiling.
As a related art of such a rice washing apparatus, there is known an apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (Kokai) No. Hei 8-299203. As shown in FIG. 5, the disclosed apparatus comprises a cylindrical container 101 with a bottom, and a lid 103 for covering an upper opening portion 102 of the container 101. It has a conical projection 104 formed on and projecting from a central area of the bottom portion and a drainage port 105 opening in its upper side surface. The lid 103 includes a water jetting tube 106 vertically disposed at the center and a water discharge filter 107 fixed to a lower portion of the water jetting tube 106 and having the same inside diameter as the container 101. For using this apparatus, rice is put into the container 101 and then the lid 103 is closed relative to the container 101. Then, a service water is supplied into the container 101 from the water jetting tube 106 which is connected to a water supply hose 108. By doing so, the service water is jetted towards the projection 104 and hit it so as to be dispersed in all lateral directions, thereby providing a circulating stream within the container 10. The rice within the container 101 is circulated together with the circulating stream and stirred so that the rice grains are washed by rubbing each other. A dirty water after use for washing the rice is discharged from the drainage port 105 via the water discharge filter 107. The washed rice is removed from the container 101 by opening the lid 103 and put into another container.
However, the above conventional rice washing apparatus has the following shortcomings. Since the space between the jetting port formed in the lower end of the water jetting port and the conical projection formed in the container is too large, thus allowing presence of rice to be washed in this large space. Because of the presence of rice in the space, there is a possibility that the jetted water from the water jetting tube does not reach the projection. Since an occurrence of a circulating stream large enough for stirring the rice while circulating cannot be expected, the washing ability of this apparatus is problematical. Furthermore, since the rice is shifted into another container after the rice is washed, the rice gains adhered to the inner wall surface of the container remain as they are. Therefore, those rice gains must be removed by hand and thus not sanitary. Besides, this is against the object of the invention aiming at washing rice without touching water and rice.